Star Wars: Divergent Paths
by Scarlet Rosette
Summary: They were the Bloodrose Sisters - they had promised to always love and protect each other even in the darkest of times. But even the strongest of bonds shatter and now they walk their own paths, hoping to one day meet at the crossroad.


**Star Wars: Divergent Paths**

**Star Wars **© George Lucas

**Note**: This is my first time trying something like this, so don't expect any great quality of logical content. I would really appreciate if people could review my story and give some advice on how to improve, as long as it's not a complete flame. Thanks you.

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><p><span><strong>Prologue<strong>

_**-Coruscant-**_

They called Coruscant the 'Jewel of the Republic' and on the surface, it was easy to see why it had earned its reputation. The largest and wealthiest ecumenopolis in the Galaxy, the surface of Coruscant was lined with towers that stretched above the clouds, and the streets were lined with gold. Okay, so that last bit may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but the surface of Coruscant was nothing short of spectacular from the Senate Building to the magnificent Jedi Temple. Sadly, this wonderful image only stretched as far as the planet's surface.

Impressive as Coruscant's shining towers are, they could not exist without standing on the shoulders of the less-than-glamourous industrial complex that was hidden deep underground. The district once had a name, but many who had never set foot there simply refer to it as "The Works". The underground district was a heavy maze of hyrdosupply stations, pollution-processing plants, and electrical generators, all meant to provide for those who were fortunate enough to live on the surface while giving none to those below. Only droids and those desperately homeless dared set foot in the Works, many having given up hope of ever seeing the surface world again.

But she wasn't one of them.

As she sat cross-legged on one of the highest pipelines in the district, hoping for one tiny glimpse of the upper levels through the smog, Cúore sighed wistfully. A young human child with rich-brown skin that was oddly complimented by her short, silvery hair, Cúore golden eyes tried desperately to piece through the veil that separated her from her goal, from her dream. Then suddenly, she threw her hand behind her and caught a metal bolt that had been aimed at the back of her head, all without looking back. Cúore chuckled as she tossed the bolt in her hand and then threw it over her shoulder; her actions met with a sharp "Ow!" from the corner.

"I know you're there, Myalo," said Cúore. "You can come out now."

Grumbling under her breath, Myalo crawled out of her hiding spot, rubbing the tender spot on her forehead where the bolt had hit. Myalo was a Mirialan child with vibrant green skin; her dark hair shortened to a buzz cut after a nasty experience with a watcher droid. Chuckling once more under Myalo's annoyed glare, Cúore took one last look at the smog above, sighed, and fell backwards off the pipeline. Any normal child would have died from dropping at such a height, but Cúore remained poised as she flipped backwards in the air and landed safely in a crouch in front of Myalo. Now that the two were standing close together, it was clear that Cúore was the older of the two.

"You always have to show off, don't ya?" Myalo grumbled. "You and that special power of yours."

"I keep telling you, it's not a power," said Cúore. "I don't know how to describe it. It's like…more of an instinct…or a sixth sense."

"Yeah, yeah, mystic-voodoo-mumbo-jumbo," Myalo said uninterested, her arms behind her head. "Meanwhile, when was the last time you went scrounging around for some food? It was supposed to be your turn tonight. If we don't bring something edible back, Karada is gonna throw a tantrum."

"When doesn't she throw a tantrum?" Cúore said jokingly; the two of them shared a laugh. "But seriously, I'm sorry. I've been a little…distracted lately."

"About the you-know-what?" Myalo said softly.

There was an awkwardly moment of silence shared between them; neither girl dared to look each other in the eye. It had always been a touchy subject between them, but they always avoided talking about it, especially in front of Seele – she was a timid little thing; she didn't need any more to worry about. It wasn't like Cúore _wanted _to do, but it just felt this was something she _needed_ to do. But even that didn't make her feel any less guilty. They were going to have to talk about it sometime, Cúore told herself, but now was not the time. Right now, she needed to think about finding something to eat before Karada decided her fingers would make a nice snack.

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><p>Finding anything that could be considered as 'food' was like trying to find a diamond in the desert, on Tatooine. There were times when they were lucky enough to find something that fell from the upper level before they were scrounged up by beggars, or worse, Cthon. They should consider themselves fortunate that they were able to scrap together this much, Cúore thought to herself, readjusting the dusty sack on her shoulder.<p>

"Not a bad haul, all things considered," said Myalo. "Three cans of meatlump, three nutrition bars, two fern potatoes, and something I hope is grainmush. All in all, we made out all right."

"Seele should get the nutrition bars," said Cúore. "She's small – she needs the nourishment more than the rest of us. We'll have to divvy up the rest between the three of us. Now we can each have one can, but potatoes…"

But as they were walking past the thermal exchange room where many beggars went to keep warm, they heard the familiar sound of cheering and peeked around the corner. It wasn't uncommon to see groups of men and children huddled around a fight, rooting for blood and broken bones like it was some entertaining show. It was times like these that reminded Cúore just how far men can fall once they've lost everything. Normally, she and Myalo would have just walked away – it wasn't any of their business – but a gap in the crowd gave them a view of the people fighting and Cúore dropped he sack, her mouth agape.

A tall and surprisingly fit human was on his back, crying for mercy, as a _child _was savagely clawing his face without relenting. But it wasn't any child, Cúore regretfully knew. Karada was very unique among Zabrak that her red skin was a particularly dark shade, almost like the color of blood. Her dark hair was wild and untamed; five very small horns were barely noticeable through the mop. Her eyes were bulging as they often did when Karada was in her…'savage state' as they liked to call it.

Cúore and Myalo looked at each other, silently communicating with their eyes, and pushed forward into the crowd. Being only children, it was difficult to move through a forest of adults all jeering at the fighters. When they both had reached the middle of the fight, Karada leaned over the man's face and bit down on his left ear; the man wailed fretfully as Karada's fangs sank through. Cúore rushed over and ripped Karada off the crying man. But she wasn't the only thing that was ripped off; Karada grinned darkly with the man's ear dangling from one of her fangs. Karada spat out the man's ear, wiping the blood of her lip, and pointed.

"Not so tough now, are ya, you piece of…"

"Karada!" Cúore snapped sternly. "What is wrong with you? What could have possessed you to pick a fight an older man and bite his ear off?"

"That son of a gundark called me a Mudcrutch!" Karada growled.

"That doesn't give you the right to – "

"Can we talk about this elsewhere?" Myalo interrupted. "Somewhere that doesn't have dozens of people staring at us."

Thank goodness they always had Myalo to bring them back to their senses, Cúore thought, grabbing Karada's arm and dragging her away from the area. It had become an unbearable habit for Myalo to see Cúore and Karada argue over every little thing; they existed on opposite sides of the spectrum. But despite their differences, Myalo felt assured that they would look out for one another when they needed to.

Walking only a little ways from the fighting area, Cúore, Myalo, and Karada arrived at their poor excuse of a dilapidated campsite. There wasn't much to speak of: a small barrel fire to keep warm, an old, moth-eaten blanket hung over as a makeshift tent, and piles of garbage meant to camouflage their stash whenever they were away from camp. The one thing that stood out in their little camp was the marker-drawn sign Karada had put up over the small opening to scare intruders away. The sign detailed, very graphically, the many different methods Karada would employ on to any trespassers that dared to invade their territory. Surprisingly enough, it worked.

As the three of them entered their little camp, Cúore stopped and stared at Seele sitting close to the barrel fire, sifting through a duffel bag. Seele was a very, very small Twi'lek girl with a shade of rich-sapphire skin and the youngest of their little group, meaning she was constantly protected by her older companions. Karada was particularly protective of Seele, having threated any man or droid who came within ten feet of the young girl. The one thing that Cúore loved about Seele above all was her innocence; she always tried to look for the best in people even in those who didn't deserve it. If only Karada could be so easy.

"Whatcha got there, squirt?" said Myalo, dumping their daily rations next to the barrel.

"Everyone else was working hard to get food tonight, so I wanted to help," said Seele. She held out the duffel bag, which Myalo took. "I took the elevator up to the street level and waited behind one of the gonk droids until someone dropped something. It was mostly trash and…some other things I don't want to talk about. But then I saw someone put down their bag and walked away for a minute, so I snatched it and ran back here."

"You stole someone's belongings?" Cúore scolded. "How could you do something like that? What if there was something inside that bag that they really needed? Money, medicine, transport pass! I always told you it's wrong to steal other people's things!"

"I was just…" Seele sniffled.

"Lay off, little miss saint," Karada growled, getting up in Cúore's face. "The kid was just looking out for the group."

"What she did was wrong," said Cúore.

"You think anyone cares if it's right or wrong?" Karada hissed. "We are four children, not even in the double digits, living as beggars in the worst frakking place in the entire galaxy. And should I even have to bring up the fact that three of us are non-humans? We gotta hang that moral garbage if we want to survive."

"Guys," said Myalo.

"So you are all right with throwing away all moral integrality for a scape of food?" said Cúore, leering.

"Guys," Myalo said again.

"If it keeps me alive for another day, then yes," Karada sneered.

"SHUT UP!" Myalo screamed. Cúore and Karada separated and looked at her. Myalo, sighing in relief, turned to Seele. "I want to ask you a question, Seele, and I want you to be honest. Did you see the person you stole this bag from?"

"Yeah," said Seele, sounding confused. "It looked like a Nautolan woman, kinda tall, really big eyes. Didn't notice anything else about here. Why do you ask?"

Myalo didn't speak; she looked like she would be sick if she opened her mouth. Instead she rummaged through the bag and pulled out a tiny silver tag. It looked something like a badge with red and blue squares on the front. Seele tilted her head, confused as to why Myalo was making a big deal about a little badge, but Cúore and Karada looked just as terrified as their Mirialan friend.

"Please tell me…," Cúore said slowly, "that we did not just steal from a Republic admiral." No one replied. "Do you know how much trouble we're going to be in if someone finds out we stole this bag? This isn't some random man on the streets; this is the Republic Navy we're talking about! They might already be sending a platoon down here right now!"

"It's okay, it's okay!" Myalo shouted. "We can fix this! All we have to do is head back up to the street levels and leave the bag somewhere nearby where Seele took it. Then they can just think they misplaced it and they'll never find out we took it."

"A little late for that."

The children shrieked and bundled together as someone crouched down through the lower opening in their campsite, bumping her head on Karada's sign. The woman was a tall and oddly beautiful murky-green Nautolan; her eyes like large, obsidian opals and her tresses bunched together behind her except one that hanged over her left shoulder. The woman stood at full height – her posture rigid and firm like one would expect of a woman of her status – with her eyes creased and her lips a thin line. Knowing full well that they were in trouble, Cúore was not surprised by how Karada responded to the situation.

"Ow!" The Nautolan woman yelled. She lifted her leg, surprised that the Zabrak's jaw was firmly clamped on her shin. "Are you seriously biting me? I've been shot, stabbed, blown up, gassed, and had my brain swapped during cadet training – don't ask. This is the first time I had a youngling trying to bite my leg off."

"Karada, get off of her before you make things worse," said Cúore. Karada begrudgingly retracted her fangs, muttering dark profanity under her breath, and walked back to her group. "How did you manage to find us so quickly?"

"It's Coruscant – I don't leave my bags unattended without having tracers in them," the Nautolan woman explained. Her eyes rolled over to Myalo. "And speaking of bags."

"We didn't take anything!" Myalo yelped. She shuffled over to the Nautolan, handed off the bag, and ducked back behind Cúore. "It's all there, I swear it!"

"Hmm…everything seems to be in order," the Nautolan woman hummed, taking a quick peek inside. "Well, since you technically returned everything, I guess I'll let you off the hook this time. But not everyone in the Republic is as nice as I am. If you get caught by the wrong person, you could end up in jail, or worse, with a blaster in your forehead. Didn't your parents ever tell you that stealing is wrong?"

The children hanged their head and fell into an uncomfortable silence; Karada pulled Seele into her arms to stop her from crying. The Nautolan woman mental kicked herself for being so tactless; of course there would be only one reason why four children were living in the Works alone.

"Ours disappeared during the war, one way or another," Cúore said lifelessly. "Sith, Imperials, bounty hunters, or simply abandoned. We've been on our own for years, looking out for each other, just trying to survive."

"Why aren't any of you with child welfare?" The Nautolan woman asked. "I'm sure they can find homes – "

"We tried, many times," said Myalo. "But most non-human children are shipped off-planet to orphanages where there is a more 'alien' population. We've been together for so long – Seele has been with us literally her entire life – and we can't expect people to just adopt a bunch of street kids that are all from different species."

"So we've been living down here," Cúore continued, "trying to make the best of what we've got."

"What about food and shelter?" The Nautolan woman asked with clear concern in her voice. "Who's going to take care of you if all of you get Androxian flu or Dust Fever? What are you going to do about a job and money?"

"We can get food from anything that drops from the upper level," said Karada defiantly. "We've already got a good place to hold down. And since we're not Wookiees or on Tatooine, I don't think we have to worry about Androxian flu or Dust Fever. And why would we need money or jobs? We live in the Works. The only job we need is to stay alive."

"You can't – this is just – " The Nautolan woman sputtered. "You children can't keep going on like this. You're not going to last much longer if you stay down here. You need a proper home, a proper family."

"This is our family," Cúore said firmly. Myalo, Karada, and Seele cluttered around the eldest as if to prove their point. "And even if it's a short life, I would rather be trapped down here in middle of this garbage dump with these girls than be free on some luxury palace without them." She grabbed Myalo and Karada's hands while Karada held onto Seele. "These girls are everything to me. I won't leave them behind."

The Nautolan wiped her hand across her face, breathing a heavy sigh. The look in Cúore's eyes showed that she was serious – she would rather die down here than abandon the others. Were she one of her soldiers, the Nautolan woman would have commended Cúore for her unwavering loyalty. But she wasn't one of her soldiers; she was just a child. A child that would end up killing herself and drag these other children down with her if they stayed here much longer. But how was she supposed to convince them to leave the Works? She was right that child welfare separated humans and non-humans, meaning the girls wouldn't go for it. If only they could…

And then it hit her: there was another way to help them, a way that the Nautolan woman had been thinking about for a long time.

"Hey, kids," said the Nautolan woman. "I think I might have just the solution to your problems."

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><p><em><strong>-Three Weeks Later – Corellia—<strong>_

As she got off the rocket tram at her stop, readjusting her work bag, Mitéra was looking forward to a nice relaxing bath followed by a silent night curled up with her favorite adventure novel. Designing ships for the Corellian Engineering Corporation had been her dream ever since she was a youngling on Shili – she was never as fond of hunting like her brothers – and found the job to be very rewarding knowing that her designs were being used all over the galaxy. But the job itself required long hours of thinking and editing over hundreds of sheets at a time in a cramped office space separated from the rest of her coworkers. She was a Togruta; they weren't fond of isolation.

As she walked by one of the many shops along the tourist street, Mitéra stopped and looked at her reflection in one of the windows. Looking back at her was a strong, independent, and, in her personal opinion, very sexy Togruta with the perfect shade of copper-orange skin and exotic white stripes painted around the edges of her eyes. While her three head-tails had grown to beautiful length, one of her montrals had sadly been severed after an accident involving a welding droid. Mitéra had always been sensitive to this blemish in her appearance, but Nimitz had always said it made her more look even more sexy.

Nimitz. She had just remembered - today was the day Nimitz was supposed to be coming back.

Suddenly filled with renewed vigor, Mitéra ran the rest of the way to the apartment complex she shared with her lover. Climbing several flights of stairs – the elevators were just too slow in her opinion – she wasted no time unlocking the door and throwing herself inside. A great smile stretched across her lips when the first thing she saw upon entering the apartment was her Nautolan lover sitting on the loveseat, her feet on the small table, staring dully at the holoscreen as the channels flickered by. Mitéra fought back a smirk, slamming the door, snapping her lover out of her stupor.

"Oh, hey, babe," said Nimitz. She ripped herself away from the loveseat, walking over to embrace her lover. "Long time, no see."

"Too long for my taste," said Mitéra, giving her lover a quick peck before pulling back. "So, where's my present?"

"Really?" Nimitz said in disbelief. "I've been gone for eight months fighting my way through a blockade of Mandalorians in the Hydian Way, risking life and limb for the Republic, nearly get blasted into space dust, and the first thing you ask is if I got you a present?"

"Yes," Mitéra said shamelessly. "Now where is it?"

"Uh…it's not exactly an 'it', per se," Nimitz said awkwardly. Mitéra raised a brow suspiciously. "It's uh…well…maybe it's better if I just show you. Hey, guy, come in here for a minute."

Now Mitéra was completely lost and it must have shown on her face because Nimitz smiled and pulled away, directing her attention to the living room entryway. Mitéra was nearly floored when four little girls – four girls of differen species – crossed the threshold and faced her. The oldest was a human with a look of intelligence in her eyes. The second –oldest was the Mirialan who seemed rather suspicious, but not too concerned. The Zabrak had a nasty expression on her face that made Mitéra think she wanted to bite her face off – she wasn't wrong. And the littlest one – the Twi'lek girl – was just the most adorable thing she had ever seen, and very shy if hiding behind the Zabrak was any indication.

As Mitéra stared wide-eyed at the four children lined up in front of her, the last thing Nimitz had expected her to say was:

"Oh my god, you've become a pedophile."

"No, I haven't!" Nimitz shrieked. Karada doubled over laughing. "No, that's not what's going on here, I can assure you. Ugh, maybe we should start with introductions. This is Cúore."

"I pleasure to meet you," Cúore said politely.

"And Myalo."

"Nice place ya got here," said Myalo.

"And Kadara."

"Hmph." Karada grunted.

"And the little one is Seele," Nimitz finished. Seele remained silently, ducking further behind Karada. "That little devil tried to rob me on Coruscant and I followed them to their little hideout. You should have seen the place. It was literally a mountain of garbage and there were no adults around to take care of them. I couldn't just leave them down there, so…"

"So you decided to pull a bunch of kids of the streets and…," Mitéra said slowly, realization spreading across her face. Her eyes narrowed dangerous at her lover, causing the Nautolan to cringe a bit, and pulled her out of earshot of the children. "Please tell me you aren't thinking what I think you are thinking?"

"Why not?" Nimitz asked. "They could use a good home to live in and we're financially stable to take care of four children. Corellia is a…mostly safe place to raise a family, so I figured they could stay…"

"We are not going through this again, Nimitz," Mitéra said strictly. "Not again. I don't know what was going through that frakking head of yours when you picked them up, but we both know how this is going to end." Nimitz gave her a disappointed expression. "Don't you give me that look, Nimitz Bloodrose. I am sure they are nice kids – well, maybe not that Zabrak – but you have to take them back to wherever it was you found them."

"Why are you against this?" Nimitz hissed. "This is something we've wanted for a long time. We're finally in a position where we can start a family."

"You think I haven't tried?" Mitéra snapped; Nimitz was taken aback. "Those eight months you were on tour…I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking it was finally time we settled down and started the next chapter in our life. I went to what must have been two dozen agencies, both on and off of Corellia. But…but we were turned down…a lot. I would have thought people would have been more open-minded in the Republic, but they said we were unsuited to be parents not just because we were both women, but because we were different species."

"Mitéra," Nimitz murmured.

"I just…I can't go through another rejection, Nimitz," said Mitéra sadly. "I would love nothing more to take these kids and raised them as our daughters, but it's just been…so hard that it almost seems pointless to try anymore. I'm starting to think it might be easier just to give up."

Mitéra," Nimitz said, grabbing her lover's face and speaking in a very serious tone. "The moment I saw those kids in their little camp, a part of me said that I was meant to find them. It was like fate."

"You don't believe it fate," said Mitéra.

"No, but I'm willing to make an exception just this once," said Nimitz. "Mitéra, I can't imagine the kind of emotions you must have felt from being constantly rejected, but you can't just give up. If the Republic gave up at the first sign of failure, we would have lost this war years ago. We _need _to try, Mitéra. Not just for us, but for those kids. They need a good home and a loving family and I honestly believe we can be the ones to give it to them." Mitéra stared over her lover's shoulder at the children; a look of uncertainty on her face. "I promise, things will be different this time."

"What makes you so sure?" Mitéra asked.

"Because you won't be going through this alone," Nimitz said softly.

Mitéra still didn't seem convinced, but one more look at the children started to make her think. The eldest three had a dark look in their eyes that only came from years of hellish treatment, but Seele was still wide-eyed and innocent. And the moment she locked eyes with that sweet little Twi'lek, Mitéra just wanted to pick her up and shield her from all the bad things in the galaxy; she didn't want her to lose that innocence. And so, heaving a sigh, Mitéra grabbed her lover's hand and nodded.

"All right…let's give it a shot."

And on that day, Cúore, Myalo, Karada, and Seele moved to their new home on Corellia. And then, six months later, they were officially became what Seele called The Bloodrose Sisters. They all spent many years of happiness together – as a family.

That was, until seven years later…on the day the Empire attacked Coruscant…

The day that marked the end of their sisterhood.

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><p><strong>Please, read and review<strong>


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